16-year-old hacked Apple's servers and stole 90GB of secured files

A 16-year-old teenager from Melbourne, Australia, not only has managed to hack Apple's servers but also stole about 90GB of secured files. Among the downloaded files, there are also exceptionally well-protected authorization keys used to provide access to multiple user accounts.

The minor hacker admitted to the authorities that he hacked Apple because he was a huge fan of the company and dreamed of working for Apple.

Apple's bigger shame is actually the fact that the boy has managed to hack the company's servers not just once but repeatedly and he has been doing it for more than one year, plus Apple's system administrators have never managed to prevent the users' data from being stolen.

Next, Apple's team finally noticed their servers` cybersecurity breach, they contacted the FBI. The FBI has worked with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to detect the hacker's presence on the servers and blocking him. Authorities keep the names of the hacker secret because he is still underage.

The "Hacky Hack Hack" folder

Australian federal police arrested the talented teenager last year after a raid. Two Apple laptops, one mobile phone, and one hard drive were seized during the search of his home.

"Two Apple laptops were seized, and the serial numbers matched the serial numbers of the devices which accessed the internal systems," a prosecutor was quoted as saying by The Age. "A mobile phone and hard drive were also seized, and the IP address matched the intrusions into the organization."

While analyzing seized techniques, the authorities have discovered a folder dubbed "hacky hack hack" that contained the stolen Apple data.

There are many hacking tools and files discovered that helped the 16-year-old student to break the Apple's security and to repeatedly penetrate into its mainframe system. On top of that, authorities say the teenager has used WhatsApp to share the stolen files with others.

Naturally, at Apple's request, the authorities did not reveal any details of the specific methods by which the teenager had repeatedly penetrated the company's protected servers, but investigators commented that the kid's methods "worked flawlessly" until the company noticed a thing.

So far, the Australian Federal Police and the FBI have kept in secret any information on the case at the insistence of the teenager's lawyer. According to him, the boy is already so well-known in the cybercriminal community that even mentioning the case itself publicly exposes the teen at huge risk.

Apple has officially issued a statement assuring its customers that no personal data has been compromised during these hacker thefts. However, it cannot be denied that it is still unclear what kind of data the teenager stole.

Now the kid admitted being guilty to a Children's Court. The judge will announce his sentence on September 20th.

Nobody wants to replace Apple at the moment. To prevent such an embarrassing breach into your company's cybersecurity, be sure that a regular security assessment is made.